water changes?

[Trickdout69]

i know this is going to sound stupid and all but im just wondering. this is my first saltwater tank. its been up and going about eight months now. i havent been doing regular water changes. i do get my water tested once a week and all seems great. i have to pour around a half a gallon of fresh RO water in it everyday. so that comes out to around three gallons a week. is that no as good as doing water changes? all of my water tests great. i use the oceans blend to does the tank as well as ignite. any info on this would be great.

 

[greenbleedin]

seems crazy u dont do water changes..I believe most ppl do a 10% water change once a week..or 20% every two weeks...I myself have slipped a few times and only done a 25% once a month for a couple months and everything was fine...long as all ur readings are good is what really matters. but build of fish poo and uneaten food could shoot ur nitrates up high quick.

 

[GratefulReef]

i personally dont do WCs either. when i started my FW tank about 5 years ago i would do them religiously then one day i just stopped. when i started my SW tank i tried it out, and its been a year have done 2 major wcs because of moving though water tests are always good at or below reccommended levels.

 

[Pkunk35]

Some can get away without doing frequent water changes but you really have to be on top of your tank in terms of stablility.

Because water changing is an exportation method of nutrients, the more bioload you have the more important WCs become in terms of keeping your system stable...buildup of nutrients over time can lead to possible system crashes or "old tank syndrome" where nitrates soar.

at 8 months with a light bioload, water changing may not be that important for overall system stability (if your system is already stable)...at say 5 years of debris and nutrient accumulation (usually in the sand bed) and usually much higher bioload, water changing becomes more important in terms of exporting the excess nutrients. You want to prevent this accumulation so that over time your tank won't develop problems with nitrates and high nutrient load.

Water changing also allows you to feed heavier because you know the nutrients will be exported regularly. This keeps fish and coral fat and happy.

IMO water changing is very important for the vast majority of reefers and especially new hobbyists.

 

[Keithcorals]

There are two reasons to do water changes

1. To remove nutrients/waste
2. To replace elements that have been depleted.

In a fish only tank you can probable get away without water changes as long as you have sufficient filtration. In a reef you are more likely to have problems at some point. There are too many trace elements we can't or don't test for. Without water changes they will likely at some point become in balanced.

 

[Keithcorals]

Unbalanced not in balanced

 

[jonbar1]

Depends on the tank and what works for you. I have a lot of LPS in a small tank and spot feed mysis and cyclopeeze every other day so I do weekly 40-50% water changes. That way I'm diluting out whatever wastes like nitrate might be in the water (even though they always read 0) and replenishing macro and micro nutrients the corals need to thrive.

 

[Downbeach]

Water Changes in Reef Aquaria by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

 

[REEF911]

WOULD YOU WANT TO SWIM IN YOUR OWN WAIST FOR 8 MONTHS? end of story. your tank is not an ocean its a septic tank. it is an enclosed system with limited water. now im not saying you cant get away without doing water changes. i believe if you had the right setup you could possibly never have to change the water. but keep in mind that that setup would cost a fortune. a good rule of thumb is whatever the nitrates are then it is that amount of water that needs changing. example if i have 10ppm nitrate then i do a 10 percent water change 20ppm nitrate 20 percent water change. make sure you sift up your sand and do your own water checks. local fish stores dont always use accurate test kits. i wouldnt trust petco to check my water if my life depended on it. tanks are an investment. you dont want to come home one day and see a tank of 200 dallar fish gone. if your nitrates are higher then 50 then you are in trouble. 40 percent water change is what i would recomend so you dont through off the balance of you live bacteria in your tank. then do a ten percent change every two days after till your nitrates start coming back to normal. sorry to ramble but i hope this helps

 

[Norcalreefer]

well the whole water change argument is one in and of itself. My 2cents on that is know why you are doing what you are doing. What I mean by that is water changes do a lot of things and in different systems are done for different reasons. There are so many reasons that water changes are good that a lot of people just do them to be safe. I don't agree with reer911 that they would just be swimming in their own waist as long as the tank has proper bio filtration.
To answer your question about top off to water changes. No top off is not a water change at all. Top off is just a pain and a problem if you want a truly stable tank. When water evaporates only water evaporates, so when you are 1/2 a gallon low your salinity is high. You did not say how big your tanks is, so I can't say how big of a change that is, but depending on tank size that could be a pretty heavy swing in your tank. I might try to work on reducing that some how, not to mention that's a lot of humidity going into your house.

 

[jformani]

If you like your tank the way it is and its working for you then thats all that matters. If you want more growth out of corals then do more water changes.